Matthew Davis

Question, since I have a weird network on here: does anyone happen to know Francesca Simon, the author of the Horrid Henry series? I have a friend whose sons (tween/young teen age) want to get into contact with her regarding her book Hack and Whack.

I also get that in some cases it may be a copyright thing, but (again speaking of my particular issue) a book printed in 1950 that has fallen out of print shouldn't have the same sort of restrictions on it as a modern bestseller.

My issue isn't with the archive at all. It's just that in some cases when I'm actually working I want to use a physical copy and am directed to it. In those cases the technology, except for the access stage, becomes a bit of a hindrance to how I work. This is true across the board, honestly.

For me? One that allows me to read it via my own tool, with robust search and annotation functionality (or heaven forbid, actually print chapters out so I can write notes on the paper nautrally) rather than forcing me into a simulacrum of the print reading experience without its benefits.

Also, since not everyone likes the command line I created a gui to wrap around the tool I found. It can be found at github.com/.../gui_down...
The Windows version is an .exe file and the Linux/Mac version doesn't have a suffix. Let me know if you run into any issues.

GitHub - MiniGlome/Archive.org-Downloader: Python3 script to download archive.org books in PDF format Python3 script to download archive.org books in PDF format - MiniGlome/Archive.org-Downloader

If you, like me, have been directed to the Internet Archive version of a book for something, hate the reader provided, and find you cannot download it as a pdf I found one of a number of tools to rectify this. github.com/MiniGlome/Ar...

No, Google, I don't think that the local Office Depot, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or the three(!) Walmart super centers in the area are going to have an MG Chemicals silver conductive pen. Good effort, though.

This keyboard is very well traveled. Since I've had it it's been to (and used in) five states (maybe six -- I can't remember if I had it in New Mexico) and three countries. So it's not surprising that over time the cable might work itself out of the housing.

I've thought about desoldering the LEDs and replacing them with something else -- maybe blue -- but I can't bring myself to do it so long as they work fine.

I may also need to start looking into how to repair the traces on ribbon cables, as the ends are getting worn since they're just meant to friction fit. I know there are pens that will do it. It's not a priority, but something to keep in mind.

I also looked and realized it's been maybe three years since I did the screw mod, and five or more since I took it all the way apart and cleaned all the keystems, keys, and the baseplate. It may be time to do that again.

It turned out to be some dirt on the Model M side rather than the adapter board side, I think, but I cleaned both ends of the cable and reseated everything.

Tonight's bit of vintage computing:

The numlock LED indicator on my 1990 Model M (which is my daily driver keyboard and has been since 2011) started losing power intermittently, but the key itself worked fine. Which meant I needed to take the keyboard apart and check the ribbon cables.

If I ever get a gig where it's not for a limited term and I have an office of my own I'd like to have a small museum of retro computing devices. It may seem odd if it's a medieval gig, but digital stuff is my other hat so...

I don't know that anyone on here does retro computing, but there are three imacs available via auction in Virginia without bids.

*It should technically be Höfuð, but computer networks that use Linux on some level don't deal well with the letter thorn or diacritics, as they are non-ASCII characters.

It doesn't have a wifi network of its own so any likelihood it can be used to gain access to the network is relatively slim and can be made slimmer. In the meantime, though, I have tentatively named the camera Hofuth.*

I need to eventually build a home assistant box to link it to, which will be named Heimdall in keeping with my general computer naming scheme on my home network and will allow me to sever it from the net if needs be.

Due to perhaps the most wholesome mysterious creeper we got a IP camera for the back porch.

One final reminder - submissions for Kalamazoo are due tomorrow! Still trying to decide on a panel? Doing work with Lydgate or the fifteenth century more broadly? Consider the Lydgate Society sessions. Interactive .pdf with submission link at www.sandbox.matthewedavis.net/ICMS_Lydgate...

One final reminder - submissions for Kalamazoo are due tomorrow! Still trying to decide on a panel? Doing work with Medieval and Renaissance Drama? Consider the MRDS sessions. Interactive .pdf with submission link at www.sandbox.matthewedavis.net/ICMS_MRDS_Fl...

One final reminder - submissions for Kalamazoo are due tomorrow! Still trying to decide on a panel? Doing something digital and want to talk about it? Consider the Digital Medievalist Roundtable. Interactive .pdf with submission link at www.sandbox.matthewedavis.net/ICMS_Digital...

Fuck that.

The Digital Medievalist is still looking for proposals for its roundtable at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. More information on the panels and submission info can be found in the attached link. Please share widely and consider submitting!

The Lydgate Society is still looking for proposals for its panels at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. More information on the panels and submission info can be found in the attached link. Please share widely and consider submitting!

The Medieval and Renaissance Drama Society is still looking for proposals for its panels at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo. More information on the panels and submission info can be found in the attached link. Please share widely and consider submitting!

While I'm very ambivalent about whether or not Vibe Coding produces good code, it at least produces documented code if examples I've seen are any indication.

Good for the goose, good for the gander, after all.

So apparently they're talking about taking away the second amendment rights of transgender folks. I just want to go on record as saying I'm happy to abuse the same loopholes the 2A crowd uses to skirt regulations to make sure any transgender folks that want them get firearms. Just saying.